en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iphigenia
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Taurians especially performed sacrifices of bulls and virgins in honour of Artemis.
Ancient sources on the Taurians describe them sacrificing shipwrecked men, captured Greeks, or strangers—not bulls and virgins.
Full reasoning
The classical sources normally used for this myth do not describe the Taurians' rite as the sacrifice of "bulls and virgins." Instead, they describe human sacrifice of strangers:
- Herodotus 4.103 says the Tauri sacrificed "all ship-wrecked men, and any Greeks whom they capture in their sea-raids" to the Virgin goddess identified with Artemis.
- Apollodorus, Epitome 6.26 likewise says the Taurians "murder strangers," and Frazer's note on that passage summarizes the victims as shipwrecked persons and any Greeks on whom they could lay hands.
So this sentence misstates the kind of victims associated with the Taurian cult in the ancient literary tradition. It appears to confuse the Taurian Artemis tradition with other Artemis rites or with the bull-related epithet Tauropolos.
2 sources
- Herodotus, Histories 4.102.2–4.103.1 (Godley translation)
Among these, the Tauri have the following customs: all ship-wrecked men, and any Greeks whom they capture in their sea-raids, they sacrifice to the Virgin goddess...
- Apollodorus, Epitome, book E, chapter 6, section 26
Now the Taurians are a part of the Scythians, who murder strangers... According to Herodotus, these Taurians sacrificed human beings to a Virgin Goddess... The victims were shipwrecked persons and any Greeks on whom they could lay hands.